


Just Like You

by semele



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-10
Updated: 2013-03-10
Packaged: 2017-12-04 20:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/715010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semele/pseuds/semele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tatia always had vivid dreams.</p><p>(Warning: mentions of death)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Like You

Tatia always had vivid dreams.

Sometimes the stories her mind tells her are so real that she wakes up confused, surprised by monotonous colors and boring shapes of the real world. It seems like her daughter takes that after her. Every morning they sit down, just the two of them, and tell each other what they remember from the night.

“So, did you dream about anything interesting?” asks Tatia as she starts braiding her daughter's hair.

“I was a witch!” announces Ana proudly. “I was catching frogs to cast a spell. Do witches use frogs for their spells?”

“I don't know. We'd have to find a witch and ask her.”

“And there was a girl! She looked just like you, you know? She was telling me to hurry up.”

“Well, if she looked like me, maybe it was me?”

“Nah, it wasn't you. She just looked like you.”

Tatia doesn't even blink when she hears the answer. 

(Her own dreams are full of girls who have her daughter's eyes. Sometimes she thinks that it's just one girl over and over and over again, young and old, wearing different dresses and different hair, but most of the time it doesn't seem right. They are different girls, ten, maybe twelve, it's hard to tell, really. There's something uncanny about their faces, but when Tatia wakes up, she only remembers the eyes.)

Ana is too young to do any real work, but Tatia leaves her some minor repairs to do; just to make her accustomed to needle and thread, she tells herself. The truth is, she wants to keep her home, keep her from running around the forests as long as she can. She doesn't like to be away from her, almost as if she had no minute to lose, how silly of her.

They have all the time in the world.

They haven't really seen many people over the last few days, though that will come back to normal soon enough. Since the last full moon no one in the village looks anyone in the eye, which is quite understandable.

It's dreadful what happened, it really is, and Tatia hates it when little boys die such gruesome deaths, but a part of her can't help but be a little bit grateful for those few days of peace and quiet.

(The girls in her dreams are surrounded by men. Tatia rolls her eyes when she hears their declarations of love. Some of the voices sound quite familiar, but Tatia never listens carefully enough to figure them out. She hears things like that way too often when she's awake, and they bore her to tears. Sometimes she amuses herself by telling them everything she'd never dare to say out loud in the real world, but eventually she gives up. Even in a dream every malicious word she says only makes them love her more.)

Ana hears the sound of footsteps mere seconds before Tatia, and she lets out a shriek of delight. Ana likes visitors, likes to be busy, chatty and restless. It worries Tatia just a little bit.

When she sees that her guest is just Esther, and not one of her sons, she's quite surprised and even more relieved.

It's not that she doesn't like them, but she wouldn't mind not seeing them at least for a few more days.

Esther's face is blank when Ana lunges forward to greet her, nattering something about frogs and witches. The smile she gets in return is so hollow it makes Tatia wish she was anywhere but here. So much for relief.

She never wanted to know what you look like talking to another woman's child after you've just lost yours.

“Oh, but look at how pretty you are!” says Esther in a perfectly controlled voice. “You need to be careful, you know, or a witch will come and steal your pretty face!”

Esther bore six children, and she helped to deliver many, many more, so it's not like her to ever say things like that. Ana's laughter sounds so out of place it makes Tatia wince, but she keeps her cool, no need to be stupid about this. She sends her daughter away to bring some firewood, or pick some berries, she isn't even sure which excuse she uses.

“How can I help you? Please, come in,” she says awkwardly. Esther gives her a small smile.

“You know, she looks just like you,” she says just before she steps over the threshold.


End file.
